How fast can wireless power charge? This is a bit of a trick question -- or at least a tricky question -- as are many of the questions about revolutionary innovations. The question doesn’t match the technology.
For example, before the car was invented, all people wanted were faster horses, right? The question, “How fast can you make my horse run?” has nothing to do with the speed of a car. And before the Internet, the question, “How frequently can you update my encyclopedias and phone books?” has nothing to do with carrying an infinite amount of constantly changing information in your pocket.
A World of Constant Charging
When the world that has adopted real wireless power -- that is, power that is delivered like Wi-Fi signals without wires, charging pads, cables, or even carefully directed beams of energy or light -- the charging speed doesn’t matter, because the device will never need charging. It will always be charged.
At home, at the cafe, in stores, at work, all the devices that traditionally have needed disposable batteries or charging cables, adapters, or stations will no longer need batteries or charging. Each item that currently uses a battery -- rechargeable or disposable -- can now be wireless-power-enabled, like is currently possible with Ossia’s Cota’s tiny, micro-chip-sized receiver. It is surprising how little power our every day devices actually use on average, a phone consumes 4 AA batteries per hour, AppleWatch: ½ AA battery per day and a public bathroom towel dispenser? 1 AA battery per day. But charging any of these devices in one hour will need 24 times that power.
How Real Wireless Power Works
A single power transmitter in the room will establish how to power every Cota equipped device through their Cota circuit, from tablets to wearables to batteries in security cameras, and safely power the device when it needs to be charged, no matter what position it is in, even if you’re walking around with the device is in your hand or pocket. It will feel like how Wi-Fi finds and connects to your mobile device.
Wireless Power on the Go
Of course, we’re not always going to be in a room that has Cota wireless power capabilities. We might be in our car traveling across the state. The good news is that automotive and transportation manufacturers are embracing wireless power faster than they usually do with new technology. Your next car will likely have a wireless power transmitter built right in, so you don’t have to worry about remembering power adapters or plugging in on the road.
In fact, devices may charge even faster in your car than home or work, because, at least with Cota, phones are estimated to charge at a faster rate because of having fewer devices in the vehicle.
And if you’re outside? That’s when your device will disconnect from the wireless power source, and will need charging when you return to a wireless power location. Thankfully, you don’t have to remember to plug it in when you get there. Today, our wireless power technology, Cota, operates at 2.4GHz frequency. As we evolve and explore even more advanced techniques, we expect to increase power delivery rates to top off the battery quicker and enable new devices.
The Wireless Power Ecosystem Enables Always-Charged Devices
The bottom line? We all need to consider the entire ecosystem when thinking about the daily effectiveness of wireless power charging. That’s why Ossia is working on building the ecosystem by facilitating wireless power deployment at retail, coffee shops, restaurants, home, office, transportation terminals, and many more locations.
The stronger the ecosystem, the less consumers will have to worry about how “fast” their devices will charge, because there will be power everywhere, all the time. Get ready to experience 99% battery level the rest of your life, because devices will be automatically tapping into power everywhere, much like we depend on Wi-Fi and data connections today.
Imagine, your future phone will not even show you the battery level, since you need not worry about it any longer.
